Every time you catch yourself thinking, “I have to do this again,” I want you to start paying attention.
Not because everything you do more than once needs to be automated. It doesn’t.
But repetition is a clue.
Years of working in process improvement and automation have trained my brain to notice repetitive work. When I find myself doing the same steps again and again, my brain naturally starts asking:
Does this really need me?
That question has become almost automatic for me. But you don’t need years of experience with automation to start asking it, too.
In fact, learning to notice repetitive work may be one of the most useful first steps you can take toward using technology to save yourself time.
📺 Watch the video below
Why Repetitive Work Is Worth Noticing
Think about some of the little things you do throughout your day.
An email arrives, and you copy information from it into a spreadsheet.
Every Monday, you visit the same website and check the same information.
Someone places an order, and you go through the same administrative steps you went through for the last order.
Maybe each individual task only takes a minute or two.
That’s one of the reasons we often don’t question them.
“It only takes a minute.”
But if it takes a minute every time, and you do it repeatedly, those minutes start adding up.
More importantly, you’re spending some of your attention on a task that may not actually require you.
Start With the Task, Not the Tool
One of the easiest mistakes to make with automation is starting with the technology.
You hear about an automation tool or a new AI Assistant and immediately start wondering:
“What could I do with this?”
I like to turn that question around.
Start with what you’re already doing.
Look for the repetitive task first.
Then ask whether technology could help with it.
That keeps you focused on solving an actual problem instead of trying to invent a reason to use a shiny new tool.
You don’t need to be loyal to the tool.
Be loyal to the outcome.
Listen for “I Have to Do This Again”
One of the easiest ways to start identifying possible automation opportunities is simply to listen to yourself.
Pay attention when you think or say things like:
- “I have to do this again.”
- “I do this every Monday.”
- “Every time someone orders, I have to…”
- “Whenever I get this email, I…”
- “I always have to copy this over there.”
- “I need to remember to check this.”
- “It only takes a minute.”
Those little sentences are clues.
They don’t automatically mean you’ve found something you should automate.
They mean you’ve found something worth looking at.
Ask: Does This Really Need Me?
This is one of my favorite questions.
Does this task actually need ME?
There are plenty of things in my business and life that I want to do myself.
Technology should not remove the human parts that matter.
A conversation with someone may need me.
Helping a customer make a decision may need me.
Teaching, encouraging, listening and building relationships may need me.
Copying the same information from one place to another?
Probably not.
Checking the same place every morning to see whether something changed?
Maybe not.
Performing the same administrative steps every time the same predictable event happens?
That’s worth investigating.
One of my favorite principles is:
Automate the administration. Keep the relationship.
The goal isn’t to remove yourself from everything.
It’s to stop spending your limited time and attention on repetitive work when technology could potentially carry some of that load for you.
You Don’t Have to Know How to Automate It Yet
This part is important.
You do not need to know which automation tool to use.
You don’t need to know how to build a workflow.
You don’t need to understand AI Assistants, APIs, triggers, actions or any other technical terminology before you start.
First, learn to notice.
For the next few days, pay attention to the things you repeatedly do.
You could even keep a simple note on your phone called:
“Things I Keep Doing”
Every time you notice one, add it to the list.
Don’t solve it yet.
Don’t research software.
Don’t sign up for seven new apps.
And please don’t create yourself an entirely new organizational system for tracking possible automations. We are not moving digital throw pillows today. 😂
Just notice the work.
Not Everything Repeated Should Be Automated
Repetition is only the first clue.
Just because you do something frequently doesn’t automatically make it a good candidate for automation.
Some tasks require judgment.
Some require a human relationship.
Some change every single time you do them.
Some would take more time and effort to automate than you would ever save.
That’s why I don’t want you to hear “repetitive” and immediately think “AUTOMATE EVERYTHING!”
We’re starting much simpler than that.
We’re training ourselves to recognize opportunities.
Later, we can ask better questions about whether a particular task actually makes sense to automate.
Once You Start Looking, You’ll See It Everywhere
This is what happened to me after years of working with process improvement and automation.
My brain became trained to notice repetition.
I see a repeated task and start wondering:
Why are we doing this manually?
Does it always happen the same way?
Could technology handle part of this?
Does a person actually need to be involved in every step?
That way of thinking didn’t happen overnight.
And you don’t need my background to develop it.
You can start with one very simple habit:
Every time you catch yourself thinking, “I have to do this again,” stop for a second.
Notice it.
Then ask:
Does this really need me?
You don’t have to know the answer yet.
Learning to ask the question is the first step.
Your Next Step
For the next week, notice your repetitive tasks.
When you catch yourself doing something you know you’ve done before — and know you’ll probably do again — write it down.
At the end of the week, look at your list.
You may be surprised by how many little repetitive tasks have quietly become part of your routine.
Then choose just one and ask:
Could technology handle some or all of this?
That’s where we’ll start.
Technology doesn’t have to be scary. Sometimes it just needs to take a few things off your plate.